The recent BBC 1 Panorama investigation into Ryanair didn’t manage to expose anything particularly new on the budget airline’s successful business model, according to Janet Titterton, business planning director at ancillary revenue specialist Collinson Latitude. She said the programme provided “little new information” about the Irish carrier’s unprecedented success.

“It’s easy to criticise the Ryanair strategy of unbundling, but it appears to be working in a sector besieged with financial challenges,” she said.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary had accused Panorama of planning a ‘hatchet job’ on the airline which caused a row to blow up over guidelines set in order for him to be interviewed on the programme.

Titterton said: “The danger for brands looking to emulate the model is that they become so focused on the incremental revenue that can be derived from product unbundling, that they forget about the promises they’ve made to their customers.

“Ryanair’s model succeeds as it remains true to a low cost carrier business strategy, pushing its ‘best price’ positioning.”

Titterton added: “It’s too simple to suggest that the Ryanair model is wicked. More to the point is the reality that brands survive when their priority is to build long-term customer relationships – not short-term profits.”

Ryanair should be given credit for freeing holiday travel from the grip of charter airlines. 10 years ago if you self-booked a villa you usually had to buy a flight-only deal from a charter airline. They were expensive, their flights were often hours late (I remember waiting in Corfu for an 11pm flight delayed to 5am, and many more)and there was an excruciating lack of legroom. The flights were only weekly and destinations were limited to mainstream package aiports. You often had to travel to a UK airport miles away. Now there’s an incredible choice of flights from local airports. And yes, those £1 flights really do exist – just look out for offers, get an Electron card to avoid card charges and get used to travelling with hand luggage only.

Agreed… and another really good thing is that their aircraft do tend to be pretty much full. Which is much better than the almost-empty planes you often get with tradition / inflexible / more expensive scheduled airlines.